“Madison Square Garden (MSG) – Full (48124330357)” by Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

New York’s State Senate will become the latest legislative body to weigh ticket aftermarket reforms. Today, State Senator James Skoufis (D-Queens) is set to introduce a series of amendments to the state’s existing regulatory laws on live event ticketing, notably including a resale price cap at original face value, as detailed by The Hollywood Reporter. Skoufis’ legislation arrives before the state’s standing rules are scheduled to expire in July and amid a surge of action against ticketing exploitation worldwide.

“The total price at which a ticket reseller may sell or offer to sell a ticket to a live music concert or music performance may not exceed the total price of the initial ticket, inclusive of all fees and taxes, including those set forth in subdivision one of this section, in connection with the purchase of the initial ticket,” a draft of the bill obtained by The Hollywood Reporter reads.

Price-capping has become a hot topic in the global live event industry in recent years. Supporters hold that disincentivizing scalping is the only way to intervene in ticket brokers’ rampant, industrialized aftermarket exploitation, while opponents have traditionally expressed that legislative action would intervene in a free market. At its foundation, the discourse often returns to whether tickets should be considered a commodity suitable for exploitation or a provisional license to enter a venue.

In the U.K., deliberations by the Competition and Markets Authority led to a proposed ban on above-face-value resale expected to be enacted later this year. A similar proposition is currently under consideration in Quebec, and California Assemblymember Matt Haney introduced a bill earlier this week that would set a resale cap at 10% above the authorized vendor’s original price. Maine is currently the only U.S. state with a hard resale price cap, though a limit at 10% over face value was initially included, and later removed from a ticket reform bill passed in Maryland in 2024.

“The vast majority of the public is sick and tired of being locked out of these concerts,” Skoufis said, per The Hollywoof Reporter. “It’s a nightmarish process to be able to do something as simple as go see your favorite artist in this state. And this is a major proposal to try and stand up for that.”

Skoufis’ legislation to be proposed also includes a ban on speculative tickets, which is among the regulations included in the TICKET Act that was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last April, and a limit on fees from primary ticket vendors, the lack of which is widely considered a weakness of the TICKET Act’s all-in pricing requirement. Regulatory action around live event ticketing has extended from the realm of legislation to litigation in the past year, with several high-profile FTC lawsuits, including one accusing Live Nation and Ticketmaster of facilitating illegal resale practices. Read more on that suit here.